Tag Archives: Classic Cars

Mustang Hose Woes

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I was about to start the pillar moldings mini project when I ran into a couple mechanical issues.

About a week ago the Mustang began squealing when pushed to high revs.  That normally indicates one of several problems.

1. It could be a water pump

2.  It could be the power steering pump

3.  It could be a pulley

4. It could be a bolt that was holding the alternator bracket to the engine worked itself out and was in contact with the fan belt.

5. It could be a combination of the any of these.

Now the Mustang did, every once in a while, drip some fluid from the power steering control value but it wasn’t a huge deal.

Well, Saturday I went to start her and the battery was dead.  It’s over 3 years old and I had left the lights on the day before and had to have it jump started.  So off to the auto parts store I went and pick up a new 3 year battery and stuck it. When I started the engine up, it made the squeal and I decided I needed to fix this, before the pillar molding.

So with a neighbor revving the engine I noticed the bolt protruding from the water pump/block ( it passes through left side water pump housing in to the block).  With the revs the fan belt would flex and briefly hit the bolt.   This bolt was “custom” made when we were fitting everything up to reman’ed long block and was about 7 or 8 inches long.

It took a bit to get that back in place, had to loosen up the alternator’s other two supports and toss a little loctite on the threads and she was good to go…..almost…..

Yeah….option #5 above was the correct answer BTW.

Started it up and there was still a squeal – not the same squeal but clearly an ‘accompaning’ squeal.  Shortly after that a power steering hose let go and well liquid does what gravity  make it do and I spent the afternoon cleaning the driveway.  So there went my allotted time for Saturday.   So replacing both hoses seem the best way to go and they’ll  be in today.  Right now it’s at the shop down the street, I had no time to undertake this task at the moment, will be traveling the next couple weeks.

One of my travels takes me to the National Corvette Museum.  I’ll spend an entire day there which include the assembly plant tour.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Auto Factoids for 5/9/2010

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Tough finding something historic for this week in May.

I do have a blurb on GM.

On May 10, 1923 they named Alfred P. Sloan as corporate president.  They didn’t just pick from the streets.  He was actually, a draftsman for a bearing company, Hyatt Roller Bearing.  That company eventually merged with a few other companies with United Motor Corporation.  Sloan became the president of that and shortly after that they were purchased by GM.

He served GM from 1923 to 1956 in some manner including board chairman.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

V8 Reference Book

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I grab every book I think is useful in any of my hobbies.  I happened to be at the mall the other day and had some time kill and wonder down to Borders books store.  Pick up a book entitled “Ultimate American V-8 Engine Data Book” 2 Edition  by Peter Sessler, published MotorBooks.

This book has engine identification codes, component casting codes, internal dimensions and specs, and power and torque ratings.

It goes back as far as 1952 and covers Fords, GM, Mopar, and AMC, Packard and Studebaker.  It includes big blocks and small blocks.  There is a lot of information.

I learned from this book that all of the engines possible for the Corvette in 1984 were rated @ 205 hp.  The CFI was the main power supplier, but it also had listed a couple TPI’s (engine suffix code ZFC), TBI (engine suffix code ZFJ – supposedly for export only) and a 4v for California (engine suffix code ZFF).

They also inform you of the transmissions that go with the engines.

There are listings for cylinder heads parts or casting # as well as intake and exhaust manifolds as well.

I think this one is worth the  $30.00.

This is a great transition to introduce an up and coming feature for this blog.

I love engines…(duh).  To me the history of development, what was used when and where and maybe even why can be fascinating.  I’ll be tossing out specs and the like and hopefully some, ” I would have never guessed that” information.  Now, I don’t have this all in my head, it will be researched stuff or some experiences. (My 1974 Torino was a good case study..tell you the story soon).

Thanks for reading.

Tim

SCCA Event 4/25/2010 Auto Cross Part I

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The name of my blog includes “racing”.  This isn’t meant to be watching on TV and reporting back, it’s meant to be my events.  My blog title also includes  “Average” and includes budget as well.  (You might as well include ‘time’, as in average amount of time to spend on the hobby.) 

I just finished running a Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) event.  It was a blast!!  I’ll get to my times in a bit, but first, let’s talk about cost of this particular event. 

Straight up to join SCCA there is the yearly fee for the national membership and there is the fee for your regional membership. Total cost here was $80.00.   Now the events are not free.  In my regional club which run events in the Tucson areas and Phoenix as well, they have to offerings.  They have a round for points and time and they have the time only round.  There are separate prices for each. 

Today when I showed up (you can pre register and save ..I think…$10.00) filled out all the paper work and went to pay.  The fellow taking the money asked if I wanted “time only” and  I’m thinking…do I only want to be timed…so I said “No.” and he said “That will be $30.00.”  So I paid. 

Now I have co-worker who talked me into joining SCCA and he attends regular events at the local drag strip – the auto cross is held in the huge drag pit/parking area.   He cleared up my misunderstanding and said if I wanted the “full” experience I need to go back and say yes I wanted the ‘time-only’ round as well.  That cost me another $10.00. 

So putting this together we are at 120 big ones this month to race.  Not too bad, I’d have to say. 

There are more costs and I’ll get to that in next portion of this subject. 

SCCA Event 4/25/2010

Wrenchin’ Tip – Fuel Line Threads – Comment from A reader

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I replaced all the fuel lines and brake lines on my 65 a few years ago, and I used this flaring tool and the thread seal that comes in a tube.  I have never had a leak, and I have never used the teflon tape.  You don’t need a real expensive flaring tool to work on these old Mustangs.

Flaring Tool

  

Soaring’s ride: 

1965 Mustang

  

Auto Factoids for 4/18/2010

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4/18/1955 Lincoln becomes a subdivision of Ford. 

1954-Lincoln

Here are a couple that I did not know.

4/22/1954 – Hudson and Nash merge to form AMC.

4/23/1987 – Chrysler buys Lamborghini.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

C4 Vette Valve Cover Gasket Replacement Part VI

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Ok..let me finish up blogging to you on this  event.  I had a read ask if it has really taken this long and the answer is No and Yes.  (I’ll explain the YES in a bit..it ain’t pretty!!!!)       

After find the correct bolts, wrestling the covers back into place was, I bolted them down.  Installed they looked pretty good.       

Check it out.       

Left side painted and installed. Still missing the emblem..right now

 

The only difficulty was aligning the holes in the cover and the gasket and the engine. Due to the lack of room to maneuver I wasn’t able to keep the gasket and cover holes aligned while wrestling them into place. I used two (small enough to slide into the threaded holes without damaging) phillips head screw driver to help keep them aligned and put the bolts in.       

Errrkk……whatever you do tighten them carefully…..let me spell that for you  (Mickey Mouse Club tune playing in my head)  C…A….R.(because you care about your car)…E…F….U…L…L…(cause you want to keep the oil full)…..Y…(because if you tighten too much on the 1984 C4 magnesium valve covers you’ll crack them and they can’t be welded, JB or other wise, and then you’ve got to find used ones, because aftermarket aren’t all that great)….Ok…end of Mickey Mouse Club song…and the end of one of the original valve covers….       

And in case you didn’t get the between the lines intention of the above Errrkkkk…I broken one.       

I wasn’t sure at first, my mind refused to process the sound so that I could be sure..it might have been a crack, or maybe I just crunched one of the plastic tubes covering a bundle of wires.  Yeah..that’s it…I sure (it might have been a crack though….crap!!…let me spell that for you…oh…never mind….just invision huge font type all in upper case, bolded and underlined.)       

I inspected the cover while it was in  place and I couldn’t see anything and said…ok.average guy.. with average skills and average budget..you have above average luck…at least today…at least that’s what I thought…or hoped.       

When that  happens the only way to tell is to either take the cover back off and inspected…that wasn’t going to happen…or let her run and build up the oil pressure and see what happens….that is what you’d normally do any way after replace the gaskets.       

Here she is running:  (includes bonus views of the injectors…I think they are pretty cool to watch.)       

<embed width=”600″ height=”361″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowFullscreen=”true” allowNetworking=”all” wmode=”transparent” src=”http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid299.photobucket.com/albums/mm296/timsweet2200/MVI_6967.flv“>  

http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm296/timsweet2200/?action=view&current=MVI_6967.flv 

Covers don’t look to bad…but they aren’t going to stay…because..there really was a crack…but it didn’t show up  by leaking on this run…it should up the next day when I took the car to work.  I checked it when I arrived (about a 15 minute drive) no leaking…drove it home and she started to run poorly and had no power…yeah….it was leaking…on to a spark splug….got home and a little puddle of oil formed under the car and…well lets just say as I replaced the tightening episode in my head the crunching noise…sounded a lot more like a crack..in fact it was very clear on the replay!!!! The little referee in my head….said ‘After reviewing the play..the ruling in the garage is over turned, and Tim is charged a time out and $400.00 fine for cracking the cover and the vette gets parked until the parts get here!’       

Here is the pick where the crack occurred.       

Yup...cracked!!!!

 

That was Monday (4/5/2010) fast forward to today new cover have arrived (chrome) and they’ll be installed today or tomorrow.  So Yes it was finished and now No it’s not.       

Thanks for reading.       

Tim

C4 Vette Valve Cover Gasket Replacement Part II

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Here the next installment of the removal of the valve cover.  There is very little room in this engine compartment, as compared to my 70 Mustang, and I had to remove a few things to just get the covers out.

But first a couple of mistaken assumptions I need to clear up.  GM did not use cork from in the factory for the 84 vettes.  They used Permatex sealer gasket maker.  I got that wrong.  Carrying on with that assumption as I viewed the old material in one of the videos, I suggested that the gasket had been replaced once before.  That was based on the previous assumption that the factory used cork..in fact, what you will see in the video (post that one tomorrow) is the original factory seal.  With 64k original mile, I’m guessing that is correct. (Learning is good…oh and don’t worry..I have one more lesson to share…..sigh)

These next photo shows how tight it is on the right side of the engine.

The black outline shows the span of the valve cover.  The white shows the pieces that have to be removed.

There are a couple videos coming up andlet me tell you that aren’t great… its tough to record with one hand and work with the other…oh…well…you’ll see.

This next video shows the air cleaner coming off and a vacuum hose.

This next video is more of the same.

errrk.. I’ve learned that this blog take a while for video to process so I’ll have more video loaded tomorrow….errrk.

Of all the parts I had to remove on the right side the worse (meaning it’ll cost me later) was the A/C electrical sensor.  You can see that in the picture above circled in white.  Yeah….I know why the garage wanted $700.00 to replace these…..

More coming up tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

C4 Vette Valve Cover Gasket Replacement Part I

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When I advertised this project I blogged that I didn’t understand why GM, given how hot the 1984 C4 ran, would use cork as the material for the valve cover gasket and how I wouldn’t replace them with cork. So I called a popular Vette parts supply house and ordered Ultra-Seal.  I did check locally. ok fine, I checked one place, the Checker Auto down the street, where, through some extremely ineffective communication (the guy didn’t know what he was talking about or what they had in stock), the employee said, “All we have is cork.”;  to which I said, “No, thanks.”; to which he said, “I can order something else.” to which I said, “So can I.”   (There… that bit of typing is for you grammar-sensitive types.)

I also tossed a query on the forum for the Vette group I belong to, and a couple said they do still use cork, and a  couple highly suggested Fel-Pro.  Funny, they said they got them from Checkers.

Yesterday, I received the Ultra-seal (made by Mr. Gasket) I ordered from the Vette parts place. The Ultra-seal…was cork!!!!!! So much for the description on the web.  So I got on the phone to the Checkers down the street and I got an employee that actually knew what they had in stock.  They had every type: rubber, rubber with metal, liquid, metal, and cork.

So when I got there, I picked up the set of the Fel-Pro and Mr. Gasket’s rubber gaskets.  I hear my inner critic say “Hey, average car guy!!!  Yeah…I’m talkin to you, Mr. Average budget!!! What do ya think ya doin’?!!”

Here’s the deal.  I’ve never taken the valve covers off the Vette before, I’m not sure about the clearance, or the angle of the plane the valve cover sit..yadda..yadda.  Plus, I kept the receipt so I can return them…and I will!!!!  Promise!!!

So the Ultra-Seal looks like this:

CORK…BAD!!!!

Sorry about the pic ..didn’t open them because they have to go back.

The Mr. Gasket I purchased from Checkers was metal covered with thick rubber:

Mr.Gasket Rubber and Thick Metal

They are very similar in thickness and shape as the Ultra Seal.

The Fel-Pro are the ones I’m going to put on the car.  They are metal covered with thin rubber and the holes are re-enforced with metal washers and are grooved.

Fel_Pro grooved and will hold better during installation.

So that will be next up.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Wrenchin’ Tip – Hose Installation 3/31/2010

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Often if you get the right size radiator or heater hose it will be a tight fit(eerrrkkk….don’t tighten the clamp first!!!!….just kidding…eeerrrkk) getting it over metal fittings.  You can buy them bigger but you are asking for leaks!!!!   Here are a couple of tips.  One I’ve used and the other I haven’t tried yet.

1.  I live in Arizona, and it’s hot here and normally if you are going to have problems it will be from over  heating in the summer time.  I’ll take the hose and leave it on the concrete driveway for a while in the hot sun.   That often softens it up enough to slip on.

2.  This one I have not tried.  If you have clear wire-pulling  compound, you can rub a light amount around the inside of the hoses and it will slide right on.  Here is a link where you can find some.  http://www.twacomm.com/catalog/dept_id_608.htm

Thanks for reading.

Don’t forget our project car contest.  $100.00 online shopping gift card to your favorite auto parts web site.

Tim